People do crazy things sometimes. Rock climbers climb up walls of rock…straight
up with only the security of a rope.
Hands protected with gloves. Feet
wearing special cleated shoes to help with grasping the walls assisting with
upward and onward movement. Skydivers
jump out of perfectly fine airplanes, falling rapidly thousands of feet
downward toward the hard surface of earth depending solely on that fact that
some string will pop open a parachute assisting in a softer and safer landing.
Men fight alligators and crocodiles. Race car drivers maneuver cars at extremely
high rates of speed, around and around, trusting they will make the next curve,
hoping the others will also. People jump
into Lake Michigan on New Year’s Day for the Polar plunge into frigid, frozen
waters.
Photographers…well…we get up at all wee hours of the day to
capture a sunrise. We will stay out
until all hours of the night to do some night photography. Sometimes in the depth of the forest where
city lights are non-existent. We will
hike for miles and miles to find the wildlife or waterfalls. We’ll climb
mountains, although not necessarily straight up, to capture a view of the
world, a cloud covered mountaintop, reflections in the water.
We do this carrying bags of camera equipment, laptops,
tripods. If we plan correctly, we will
carry a headlamp light and gps unit and hopefully drinkable water and snacks to
munch on. Sometimes we carry a flashlight in hopes to practice some light
painting or some tea lights to light up a rock structure.
During the winter, we live for the snow…hopefully freshly
fallen and sticking to all the tree branches or a morning of frozen fog on tree
branches. We hike through varying depths of snow or during blizzard conditions
to capture the beauty of weather. Like
the Polar plungers, we venture out to the frozen tundra of Lake Michigan with
cleated shoes, to walk the uneven terrain of frozen waters to capture ice
formations. At wee hours of the
morning. In frigid temperatures that are
even more frigid if you venture to the
side of the lake which greets you with what seems like hurricane force, arctic
winds. To capture the majesty of a
barren tree. Although these adventures may seem minimal to those more daring, believe me...the experience of capturing that which we are passionate about is just as much of an adrenalin rush to us.
This is what followed after our early morning trek to
photograph nature made ice sculptures. A ride to one of the local state parks,
Kohler-Andrea in hopes of capturing a famous photographic spot of winding
boardwalks amidst sand dunes with the lake as
a back drop.
Well, it is winter in the Midwest. Thoughts of barren
boardwalks are dreams. I followed the
trails to capture photos of exposed tree branches and dunes covered with snow and even barren
sandy areas. In an attempt to capture
something new and different and closer to the water, I worked my way to the
other side only to be confronted not by sun and the forty degree temperatures that
were predicted for the day, but gray skies and blizzard like winds that
immediately changed our pale winter skin to frost bite rosy.
It wasn’t a lost cause.
I did come back with some pleasing photos. Not necessarily what I went
for but some surprising landscape photos that actually seemed to capture the
mood and weather of the day. (The above was my favorite).
Don’t let the weather discourage you. Don’t stay inside because you don’t think
winter has anything to offer. It does.
It’s own personality which offers up a complete different aura. A change much appreciated by one that lived
in the never changing seasons of the deep south for so many years.
